After a fair amount of play got rained out on Sunday, first-round action will resume at Roland Garros on Monday–weather permitting. Stan Wawrinka is scheduled to go up against Lukas Rosol for the second time in as many tournaments.
Stan Wawrinka and Lukas Rosol will be squaring off for the fifth time in their careers and for the second time in four days when they meet again in round one of the French Open on Monday. They just faced each other in the Geneva semifinals, where Wawrinka prevailed 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 on his way to the title. The fourth-ranked Swiss is sweeping the head-to-head series 4-0, having previously scored two victories over Rosol on hard courts and another one on clay.
While Wawrinka is without question an all-court player, he certainly enjoys the red stuff. After all, he captured his second career Grand Slam title by upsetting Novak Djokovic in last year’s Roland Garros final. The No. 3 seed’s preparation has not been as strong this time around, but he at least managed to reach the Monte-Carlo quarters in addition to his triumph in Geneva.
Rosol had been 3-7 in his last 10 matches (Challengers included) prior to this past week, when he got past Roberto Ortega-Olmedo, John Isner, and Andrey Kuznetsov before losing to Wawrinka. The 68th-ranked Czech is 6-5 lifetime at the French Open with two appearances in the third round–including last year.
There is no reason to think Rosol will suddenly get on the scoreboard against Wawrinka, who can only be flooded with confidence upon returning to the scene of one of his greatest moments.
Pick: Wawrinka in 3
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The crowd are well and truly getting behind Steps. Andy needs to get in touch with his inner Scottish stubborness.
they are cheering him on now! they love his serve and volleying!! on clay!
steps is winning the long rallies which is astonishing!
he has won 12 out of 17!
Andy fails to get the break in the vital 7th game. He normally has such a good tennis mind but he is failing to anticipate Steps next step and being repeatedly wrong footed.
he should have been able to do more. steps has made a lot of errors with his dodgy forehand. murray has to serve now to stay in the match.
Thanks for reminding me. NOT.
well he survived! only just though!!
finally! poor game from steps with unforced errors and a double fault. andy will serve for it.
Now it’s on Muzza’s racquet. Just bloody welll consolidate that break.
Whew. He finally does it on his 2nd match point. To be honest he didn’t really deserve to win but am heartily pleased he did.
yeah he could have lost ed. was 2 points away and it could have gone to steps with a bit of luck.
squeaked through though….
4 unforced errors when steps changed his racket. that won the match for murray rather than his own play.
Hopefully his next couple of matches will be less complicated.